It’s a drizzly Thursday afternoon arriving at Catton Hall for this year’s Bloodstock, with unnerving flashbacks of some of this summer’s mud- festivals springing into passer-bys minds.
The taunt of English summer rain isn’t afraid to make an appearance throughout the evening but this doesn’t create a dampener (ahem) on festival go-ers’ gusto for the weekend ahead.
Hanging proudly over the entrance to the arena, Motorhead’s ‘Bomber‘ greets attendees and sets an omen for a very special event taking place this weekend, and an air raid siren emanating throughout the arena marks the official opening of Bloodstock Open Air 2024 in possibly the festival’s most musically diverse year yet.
On entrance, the festival grounds offer much opportunity for browsing shopping stalls, gaming, axe throwing and grabbing some bites to eat between the arena opening time at 4pm to the first performance at 7pm.
A generous crowd filtered in from the rain to see Belfast’s Acid Age’s self-proclaimed biggest audience yet. Opening the Sophie Stage, the trio heated up and kicked off as the first band to open for this year’s festival with a blend of chaotic jazz, and Thrash Metal.
Acid Age – Dark Circle Photography
Catapulting into very high esteem for fans of thrash and blackened metal, Scotland’s Hellripper have over the past year or so developed a huge cult following, reflected in the bands constant country-hopping between festivals. Making an appearance in the UK before zipping off to Germany, the band deliver a crushing performance with an almost non-stop stream of crowd surfers giving waiting security personnel at the barrier a run for their money.
The tent becomes noticeably sweaty throughout the performance due in part to the giant crowd who are eager to get inside to catch the bands fifteen song performance; covering songs from 2015’s debut The Manifestation of Evil to last year’s esteemed Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags.
Green Lung – Dark Circle Photography
Friday:
The sun is shining down on the huge crowd that has gathered to the Ronnie James Dio stage for Green Lung, a band who has truly risen in the ranks over the past year.
The stoner/doom group give a fantastic performance of folk and witchcraft inspired metal – think Black Sabbath meets The Wicker Man (but only the 1973 version, we don’t speak of the latter) – with soaring riffs, sweet ambiences, and bass player Joseph Ghast taking over tom duties for ‘Song of the Stones‘. “I wanna see the slowest circle pit open” vocalist Tom Templar jokes over a crowd of swaying hands. “That’s fucking walking pace – even SLOWER!”. Given the rate at how much Green Lung has catapulted in a mere few months, and the level of musicianship, it will be no surprise in future to see these guys higher up on bills and in bigger venues – you have been warned.
Green Lung – Dark Circle Photography
London’s, Exist Immortal deliver chugging and melodic progressive riffs in the Sophie tent while a mostly older generation make their way towards the main stage to catch Swedish metal trio, Grand Magus. Whatever notions the sound guy is going through, the bass has been turned up uncomfortably high for those towards the front of the stage, so much so that an escape back towards the Sophie tent to catch some of Haliphron’s Finnish-inspired melodic and atmospheric metal set still carries vibrations through the ground.
“We are Wolf from Sweden and we play British heavy metal!” frontman Niklas Stålvind jokes, seeming thrilled to be playing not so far away from Birmingham, the proclaimed birthplace of heavy metal. The old school thrashers deliver an ironically refreshing performance with plenty of energy and optimism, with a contrast of dark topics; “We’re feeling good, but we have a song about someone who wasn’t feeling very good, because he was born with an evil face on the back of his head” Stålvind announces before ripping into the incredibly catchy ‘The Ill-Fated Mr. Mordrake‘.
Grand Magus – Dark Circle Photography
Enslaved are one of the small handful of bands who unfortunately ran into technical problems this weekend, cutting their set slightly short. There is an extremely prominent dark and uneasy allure to the performance in the first two songs that is hard to pinpoint, until frontman Grutle Kjellson meekly announces the passing of a dear friend of the band the day prior, Witch’s, Dave Sweetapple, which sends an very clear run of goosebumps around the suddenly attuned crowd. Perhaps it’s due to the sad news, but the performance portrays an extremely dark mood throughout – a contrast to the blinding sun that at one point makes Kjellson throw his hands up in frustration, however the deepness felt throughout the performance seems to add the extra sense of enticement.
Newcastle Upon Tyne’s, Crowley have pulled in the crowd to the EMP stage after Enslaved’s performance and lifted spirits with their occult inspired retro pagan rock and it is close to impossible to get to the stage for a closer look. While the girls and co entertain on that stage, a security brief is underway for Hatebreed’s anticipated performance on the Dio stage, where a slideshow of famous faces and friends of the band congratulate the group on 30 years in the business.
While perhaps not as violent as their pits had been renowned for in the past, frontman Jamey Jasta jokes that Sick of it All invented the Wall of Death, whereas Hatebreed invented the Ball of Death, before a comically huge inflatable ball is thrown into the crowd – which hilariously makes it’s way over the wall behind the stage and disappears into the VIP area.
A very special event takes place on this Friday evening, where Bloodstock organisers are joined on stage with none other than Mr Phil Campbell of Motorhead. Standing beside a life-size bust of Lemmy, Campbell holds a small imitation of Lemmy’s hat which holds his ashes, and kisses it before interring it into the scrap metal sculpted bust, which was then transferred offstage and into the gallery.
Dark Circle Photography
For the duration of the festival, fans can visit and pay respects to Lemmy within the festival’s Rock and Metal (RAM) Gallery, which also included a recreation of Lemmy’s dressing room featuring his hat, boots, and unseen photos and memorabilia. Outside of Bloodstock for the foreseeable future, the bust will be situated year round at Nottingham Rock City.
Dark Circle Photography
Between all the angst and heavy riffs, a fun and flamboyant show comes from Clutch, with frontman Neil Fallon delivering interesting and hilarious moves amongst the Marylanders witty and groovy rock and roll. With excellent crowd feedback, many festival goers consider this their band of the weekend.
“Hello, you limey fucks”. No stranger to deadpan humour and satire, Mikael Akerfeldt doesn’t hold back on stage banter for Opeth’s headlining performance. Earlier this year, Bloodstock gave the fans the courtesy to pick Opeth’s setlist for tonight. “We haven’t done anything good in 15 years, it seems”, Akerfeldt jokes, as not a lot of the later material appeared in the final results of the voted songs.
OPETH – Dark Circle Photography
Since forming in 1989, through the years Opeth have gradually evolved their sound from straight-up death metal to a more progressive and bluesy approach, of which a cluster of fans have expressed disdain towards, but which on the flip-side has also picked up new fans who are into the newer style. The setlist comprises of only eight songs, which is nothing out of the ordinary given Opeth’s notoriously long song lengths.
Unknown whether people trolled the voting system, but an odd and contrasting choice of; ‘In My Time of Need‘ was selected for tonight’s performance which created a number of people leaving the crowd throughout the song. For those not familiar with Opeth’s back catalogue, a sense of misplacement and unpredictability clouded much of the audience, but for those on the more hardcore side of the fandom, this was another dream performance of excellent visuals, dreamy solos, barbaric riffs, and – of course – Mikael DOING THE ROAR!
OPETH – Dark Circle Photography
Saturday:
It’s another beautiful sunny morning in Catton Hall and Crypta’s set on the Dio stage brings plenty of ignition. Another band who has garnered an excellent response since their latest release, 2023’s Shades of Sorrow, the group seem in good spirits from the enthusiastic crowd and give an excellent performance of straight-up death metal and thrash, with vocalist and bass player Fernanda Lira not afraid to exude high shrieks alongside some amusing facial expressions – made even more funny by her willingness to stare directly into the camera for the big screen broadcast.
CRYPTA – Dark Circle Photography
If it wasn’t already prominent by the amount of prehistoric characters walking around today (no, we don’t mean old school thrash metal fans), today’s theme for Bloodstock is.. dinosaurs! A bountiful amount of festival goers have picked up on the memo and splurged out on some fun dino costumes, at one point a congregation forming outside the Sophie tent where all dinosaurs battled – before being stopped and tamed by a gentleman who genuinely could have passed as the real John Hammond.
“Go on you amazing ginger c**t!” someone yells from the pit the second guitarist Andrew Kingsley arrives on stage, followed by the rest of the members of Unleash the Archers. The Canadian melodic symphonic group deliver a soaring and crushing performance with plenty of air guitar from the crowd.
Following that, Deicide are off to a bit of a prompt and confusing start; the band line-check their instruments and immediately delve into their setlist without an opening introduction or time for people to realise that this is in fact the performance beginning. There isn’t a great deal of stage banter or in fact any interaction with the crowd bar Glen Benton proclaiming; “I normally do my deeds in the dark, but I can’t see a fucking thing up here, so excuse the sunglasses”, commenting on the stage facing the blinding sun that is openly blaring.
Despite this, the huge amount of Deicide t-shirts spotted throughout the day give a clear indication of the fandom the band carry, and it reflects in the intensity of the crowd and angry mosh-pit that came along with it for their setlist which included Once Upon the Cross, Sacrifical Suicide, and Dead by Dawn.
One song into Slylosis‘ set, and frontman Josh Middleton is experiencing some detrimental and unfortunate technical difficulties with his guitar, which eats into approximately 15 minutes of the band’s sub-headliner set on the Sophie stage.
The gathered audience grows slightly impatient and chants of ;“Fix his guitar! Fix his guitar!” emanate from throughout the tent in a benevolent manner, while Rob Callard ad-libs some small drum fills to create some distraction. “I have no jokes, but I have tons of riffs” a frustrated Middleton vents, before admitting defeat and opting to continue the set solely on vocals. “I know you love the widdly shit, but we’re going to have to do it this way”. It could have been easy for the band to simply pull the plug and sit out the performance, with Middleton proclaiming; “this is fucking weird” between songs, but the group continued to deliver a ferocious performance of the remainder of the set, covering A Sign of Things to Come, Worship Decay, and Deadwood, with a slew of of enthusiastic crowd surfers being flung towards the barrier. The decision to continue the show must be commended as an ad-hoc like this can’t have been easy on the bands nerves.
After Malevolence levelled the arena by breaking Bloodstocks record of the most amount of crowd surfers during a single performance (901, to be precise) and created a giant circle pit AROUND the sound desk, Saturday’s festival headliners Architects bring a (literal) fiery performance to the main stage with huge pyrotechnics and blasting cannons of confetti. Perhaps some of the crowd were confused by the choice of tonight’s headliner, but the band did not let any opinions affect their gusto and clear radiation of pride during the 14 song performance.
Sunday:
There is a clear sense of hype that had been traversing through the arena all weekend over Sunday mornings main stage opening band, and it was 100% worth pulling yourself out of bed (or tent) in time for the show.
Derby Grindcore unit, Raised by Owls gave an abrupt awakening to everyone for Sunday mass with all members dressed as priests, and displayed a chaotic and hysterical set, which included song titles such as ‘Comedy Metal is a Fucking Embarrassment‘, and ‘I’m Sorry I Wore a Dying Fetus T-shirt to Your Baby’s Gender Reveal Party‘ with corresponding videos playing in the background. Some very special guests brought on stage were Mr Blobby, Danzig himself (and definitely not someone in a crude cosplay), and none other than frontman Sam Stratchen’s mother dressed in a nun outfit while wielding giant dildos around the stage. After the song, ‘The Dark and Twisted Realm in Which Fred Durst Resides‘, it felt fitting for the band to deliver a hilarious Grindcore cover of Limp Bizkit’s own ‘Break Stuff‘.
Cultura Tres have travelled from the other side of the world, more specifically Venezuela, for a one-off show at this year’s festival with their culture infused blend of Thrash Metal and Hard Rock. “It’s special playing in the UK, because England is the country where heavy metal started”, frontman and guitarist Alejandro Londoño Montoya proudly and humbly proclaims.
What is most apparent however, is the fact that ex-Megadeth bassist, David Ellefson is handling bass duties for this show, while original bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr is fulfilling obligations for his more renowned band Sepultura, who are midway through their farewell tour. While the crowd seems to have dispersed elsewhere after Raised by Owl’s mindfuckery, Cultura Tres still deliver an upbeat and refreshing performance.
Perhaps it’s the open sun, the blistering 28C heat, the Sunday slump, or a combination of all three, but it appears that the humidity has affected energy levels and created a lull in a lot of people’s ability to focus or give attention to any performances. Dotted around the arena are different groups (trying to) chill out with ice-creams, browsing stalls, or catching some rest in the shade. While Moon Reaper and Osiah had the benefit of being shaded performances during this time, it appears Soen may have played in a slot where people were struggling against the heat and did not draw as much of a crowd as expected. However, the Swedes put on a particularly stellar performance for the prog fans who did attend.
SOEN – Black Circle Photography
A sea of cheese washed over the crowd when retro and futuristic power metal band Beast in Black dropped in for their performance, who undoubtedly managed to perk up and create a dancing and bopping fiasco in front of the Dio stage. UK exclusive song ‘Power of the Beast‘ in particular gets the crowd going, and whether it was the bright colours, the incredibly upbeat catchy riffs, or the infectious beaming smile from drummer Atte Palokangas that woke the crowd from their slumber, the multi-country band certainly left onlookers with smiles on their faces.
Greek death metallers, Septicflesh’s setup looks reminiscent to that of a Lovecraft and Giger lovechild, and in the sweltering heat the band deliver a powerful performance. However it appears the crowd are back to being fatigued, reflected in the fact a child was very wholesomely and very carefully crowd surfed to the front barrier followed by a parent.
The Gallowgate Murders align perfectly as an accidental warm-up for Flogging Molly who are setting up on the mainstage. The Edinburgh group draw a lavish crowd at the snug EMP stage, each member proudly donning a flag from their respective countries (Scotland, Ireland, Poland and.. a Hibs flag?!) and, quite literally, jumping into their fun and boozy blend of Celtic punk and folk. Vocalist and mandolin player Tom Coyne announces someone at the festival is renewing wedding vows, and orchestrates the audience to let off party poppers during the solo to ‘Wreckhead Wedding‘.
“If I was locked in a car I’d open a bloody window”. Donning a montage of giant background images between the bands last release Torn Arteries album cover to images of infections and nether regions that left nothing to the imagination, Carcass put on an equally grisly show – but in a good way.
CARCASS – Dark Circle Photography
The setlist covers a medley of songs from their back catalogue in their 16 song length show, with a focus more so on the aforementioned Torn Arteries album, a fun revision of Black Star into, Keep on Rotting in the Free World, all the way back to when the band touched more on grindcore with Reek of Putrefaction and Genital Grinder – which seemed to extend so that people could REALLY get a good long look at the unsightly images displayed on screen behind the band. Frontman Jeff Walker is not unknown to opt for bold stage banter, announcing “I’m not talking much because I’m liable to get into trouble if I do”.
A lot of work has gone into Amon Amarth’s stage show, with large viking statues with illuminated eyes towering over the crowd, enveloping a giant viking helmet centre stage.
The Swedish melodic metallers don’t hold back on the theatrics to suit their theme, by attempting a world record for the most amount of people to sit down and row during, ‘Put Your Back into the Oar‘, and at one point bringing out an entire crew of battling Vikings to fight each other at the front of the stage.
AMON AMARTH – Dark Circle Photography
A huge pyrotechnic show compliments the ferocity of the performance which covered songs such as The Pursuit of Vikings, War of the Gods, and Raise Your Horns, and a massive stream of confetti strings unexpectedly blast out over the crowd for Crack the Sky. Under a curtain of sparks falling from the stage, each member chugs a horn of beer to mark the end of their performance, before frontman Johan Hegg lingers in awe in front of the crowd to capture a sentimental moment for himself.
Access full photo gallery via the link below…
Next years Bloodstock Open Air is already looking promising and diverse, with confirmed acts Trivium, Machine Head, Gojira, Me and That Man, Kataklysm, Static-X, Obituary, Emperor, Lacuna Coil, Orange Goblin, Creeper, Kublai Khan, The Black Dahlia Murder, Feuerscwanz, Lord of the Lost, August Burns Red, All for Metal, Breed 77, and 3 Inches of Blood. Phew!
Words – Nora Kivlehan
Photos – Dark Circle Photography
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